Christian Democratic Party pulls out of general election

The Christian Democratic Party has pulled out of the upcoming general elections, the party said.

"[We] decided not to take part in the 2014 May election," the party leader Theunis Botha said in a statement.

"In 2012, the CDP began to question the IEC on the punitive manner in which it confiscates deposit funds from parties that do not gain a seat in elections."

Botha said the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) had failed to address the issue of confiscating deposits.

"The CDP will not continue to waste its members' hard-earned money on the gamble of trying to gain a seat, without the resources, to market its unique policies."

The IEC's commitment to a free and fair election was not being met, "as it cannot be considered free" if a deposit has to be paid and can be confiscated from a party.

This made it hard for the party to continue promoting its policies, he said.

"It is not fair when parties like the ANC and the Democratic Alliance between them receive close to a hundred million rand of taxpayers' money a year to promote their policies," he said.

Botha said his party had since its inception in 1999 taken part in every election both at national and local level and had lost hundreds of thousands of rand in confiscated deposits that could have been used to market and grow the party.